EDUCATION KIT ART GALLERY OF NEW SOUTH WALES www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/picasso/education Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso,

12 NOVEMBER 2011 – 25 MARCH 2012 The exhibition is co-organised by the Musée National Picasso, Paris, the Art Gallery of NSW and Art Exhibitions Australia.

1 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS PICASSO MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS

‘I paint the way some people write an With a career spanning seven decades of the 20th century, (1881–1973) was an integral part of the birth and autobiography. The paintings, finished development of modern art. Ceaselessly innovative and prolific, or not, are the pages from my diary, he embodies the creative spirit of the modern age, yet for all his modernity he was deeply connected with the art of the past. and as such they are valid. The future Although he was a pioneer of abstraction, he never abandoned will choose the pages it prefers.’ the figure; although he experimented with new media, he Pablo Picasso, about 19461 remained a master of traditional oil painting and bronze sculpture. His work lays bare his personal passions, desires and fears, as well as the anxieties of his time, the horrors of war, and the fragility and resilience of human life. Drawn from the collection of the Musée National Picasso in Paris, this exhibition shows a rare perspective on the life and work of this iconic yet still surprising artist. These are ‘Picasso’s Picassos’ – the works he kept in his own possession, which only after his death in 1973 were given to the French State by his family in lieu of taxes. The exhibition represents every period of Picasso’s long career and almost every medium to which he turned his hand. As he proclaimed: ‘I am the greatest Picasso collector in the world’.2

ROOM 1 From Spain to Paris 1895–1905 Picasso’s talent was evident from a young age, first recognised and nurtured by his art teacher father. Several early drawings in this room, made when he was around 13 years old, show his exceptional skills in figure drawing. During his teens, Picasso furthered his academic training at various art schools in Spain and at 19 took his first trip to Paris, when one of his works was selected for the Exposition Universelle. Over the next four years, Picasso moved restlessly between Paris and Barcelona, discovering the work of the post-impressionists and befriending fellow painter Carlos Casagemas, whose suicide in 1901 affected him deeply. Picasso drew his subjects from the underbelly of modern city life: beggars, the homeless and prostitutes. Evoking the alienation of the disenfranchised in endless shades of blue and grey, this became known as his Blue Period. While these works were inspired by contemporary art and life, they were also rooted in history: the ashen features and elongated limbs of Picasso’s figures recall paintings by his 16th-century compatriot El Greco. Finally settling in Paris in 1904, Picasso took up a studio in the famed ‘Bateau-Lavoir’ – a complex of artists’ studios in the bohemian quarter of . His Rose Period paintings – so-called for their palette of dusty earth tones and pinkish reds – were largely inspired by and theatre. The jester 1905, an early foray into bronze sculpture, was inspired by an evening (top) Pablo Picasso Self-portrait in front of ‘Homme accoude sur une table’ 1915–16, gelatin silver print, Archives Picasso, Musée National Picasso, at the Cirque Medrano, though it is also a ‘portrait’ of the poet Paris APPH11 © Succession Picasso 2011 © Paris, Reunion des Musees Nationaux © Archives Picasso, Musée National Picasso, Paris Max Jacob, one of Picasso’s broadening group of Parisian

(bottom) Frank Gellett Burgess Picasso in his studio 1908, gelatin silver friends – a circle that included writers and artists who would print, Archives Picasso, Musée National Picasso, Paris APPH002 come to define the modern era: Henri Matisse, André Derain, © Succession Picasso 2011 © Paris, Reunion des Musees Nationaux, rights reserved © Archives Picasso, Musée National Picasso, Paris Gertrude Stein and Guillaume Apollinaire.

2 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS ROOM 2 opened up infinite possibilities for painting, including ‘The enchantments of Oceania and Africa’ 1906–1909 pure abstraction, and was developed in many forms by artists In 1907 Picasso painted the complex and now iconic Les across Europe, America and Australia. However, the classical Demoiselles d’Avignon (Museum of Modern Art, New York). realism of the unfinished The painter and his model 1914 A dense and shallow composition of angular, contorted proves that even at the height of his cubism, Picasso was figures, it shocked and perplexed even his most avant- not constrained by it as a style. garde contemporaries. Matisse thought it an ‘audacious hoax’, a parody of the increasingly abstract treatment ROOM 4 of figures in modern painting.3 Picasso himself called the A return to classicism 1916–1924 painting an ‘exorcism’.4 While World War I sent many Parisian artists to the front, Picasso, as a foreign national, continued to work largely His studies for Les Demoiselles d’Avignon on display in this undisturbed. He travelled to the south of and to Italy room reveal the range of influences and approaches that went for the first time, and his experience of the art of ancient into producing this landmark work. They are not studies in Rome and Pompeii brought a renewed emphasis on the traditional sense but, typically for Picasso, explorations classical beauty and naturalism. of possible types that may or may not be included in the final composition. Particularly evident is his growing fascination with In 1916 Picasso befriended the writer Jean Cocteau, who tribal art, as seen in the mask-like, chiselled features and angular introduced him to the founder and artistic director of the Ballets bodies that caused such extreme reactions to the final work. Russes, Serge Diaghilev. The three collaborated on the ballet , composed by Eric Satie. Parade’s avant-garde score Captivated by the Tahitian-inspired works of Paul Gauguin and circus imagery called for a decorative use of pattern and and the Pacific and African collections of the Louvre and the colour that carried through to Picasso’s work beyond the stage. Musée d’Ethnographie du Trocadéro (now the Musée de l’Homme), in 1907 Picasso acquired a carved tiki figure that Perhaps in accord with the postwar mood described by Cocteau influenced his first wood carving, the totemic oak Figure 1907. as a ‘call to order’ – a desire for stability, introspection and The sculpture’s rough-hewn appearance captures the ‘naive’ contemplation after the shock and destruction of the war – quality of so-called ‘primitive’ art that Picasso and several Picasso returned to the classics. The heavy sculptural quality of his contemporaries found compelling. Head of a woman of his 1920s figures could hardly be further from the flattened (Fernande) 1909, a bronze portrait of his lover Fernande planes and abstractions of cubism, though they often retain the Olivier, uses a more complex, rhythmic repetition of angular jagged bulk of his Oceanic-inspired work. Yet again, Picasso’s forms – a suggestion of the ‘cubist’ style that would dominate sources were eclectic: the influence of Renoir’s late paintings his work in the coming years. of robust female figures can be seen in The village dance 1922, while domestic life inspired tender images of his new wife ROOM 3 Olga and playful portraits of their first child, Paul. Cubism, collage and constructions 1910–1915 For Picasso and many of his contemporaries, no recent ROOM 5 artist was more significant than Paul Cézanne. A retrospective Brushes with 1925–1935 of Cézanne’s work, held after his death in 1906, galvanised It was Jean Cocteau who introduced Picasso to André Breton his influence, and it was around this time that Picasso met and his surrealist circle. Picasso showed some of his cubist . Over the following years the two artists works at the first surrealist group exhibition in 1925 and worked in tandem, visiting each other’s studios almost daily designed the cover of the first issue of their journal, Minotaure. and sharing ideas about painting. Picasso’s Landscape Revived by the surrealists, the half-man, half-bull minotaur of with two figures 1908 typifies their early shared style – classical mythology also became a kind of alter-ego for Picasso, a Cézannesque, jagged landscape with blocky, visible brush- reappearing throughout his career. work. Their collaboration ultimately produced perhaps the The surrealists advocated no one style of art but operated most significant innovation in modern painting: cubism, which with deliberate irrationality, evoking subconscious associations combined several possible views of a three-dimensional and dream states. This found a parallel in Picasso’s expressive object in the one image. Braque described their collaboration and sometimes extreme distortions of the figure, often into as ‘like two mountaineers roped together’, evoking at once animal-like forms. However Picasso’s involvement with the their co-dependence and the pioneering exhilaration of their movement remained marginal: as in most of his artistic artistic endeavour.5 associations, he always remained strongly independent. In the wake of their six-year collaboration, Picasso and In the early 1930s, Picasso produced a number of spare Braque each took cubism in different directions. Picasso landscapes peopled by extremely distorted nudes. Combining continued to work in collage, incorporating wallpaper, cut eroticism and violence, they leaned ever closer to surrealism, pieces of canvas, newsprint, lettering and other materials into while a series of enormous bronze heads, cast at his new studio his compositions. His innovative constructions in wood and in Boisgeloup just outside Paris in 1931, brought their rotund, sheet iron, painted and wall-mounted, combine the qualities pebble-like shapes into three-dimensional form. of painting and sculpture. Dispensing with the time-honoured Picasso’s distinctive 1937 paintings known as the ‘weeping methods of carving or modelling, this was an entirely new women’ – two of which are included in this room, Weeping way of creating sculpture. woman and The suppliant – grew out of his work on the

3 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS monumental mural 1937, which expressed the anguish Throughout this period, Picasso’s success continued to grow. of victims of the Spanish Civil War. In the ‘weeping women’, Major retrospectives of his work were held in New York in 1939 he transformed the angular features of Guernica’s women with and in 1944 at the first Salon d’Automne to occur following the acidic, clashing colours to create more universal expressions liberation of Paris. Around this time he also met artist and writer of psychological turmoil. A series of women’s heads from 1939 Françoise Gilot, who later penned memoirs on her life with combine this emotive use of colour and line with the liquid Picasso. Together, they had two children: Claude (born 1947) distortion of earlier surrealist works. Here, Picasso pushes and Paloma (born 1949). the distortion of faces to new extremes: some are forced into vase-like shapes and others into bizarre, contorted polygons. ROOMS 8 & 9 The joy of life 1952–1960 ROOM 6 Picasso’s work from the mid 1950s reflects a more cheerful 1936–1939 outlook and time. In 1953 he fell in love with The 1930s was a turbulent decade for Picasso. His marriage Roque and in 1955 they moved to the south of France. to Olga broke down when his lover Marie-Thérèse became Picasso depicted Jacqueline more than any other woman in pregnant, and in 1935 he began a relationship with the surrealist his lifetime, creating in one year alone over 70 portraits of her. photographer and writer Dora Maar. For the only time in his In his later decades, Picasso reworked some of the themes, career, he ceased to paint for some nine months in 1935–36, methods and styles of earlier years, sometimes incorporating instead writing poetry in the manner of surrealist ‘automatic a mixture into one work, such as Jacqueline with crossed hands writing’. The outbreak of civil war in Spain disturbed Picasso 1954. It was also around this time that he made a series of greatly and his monumental mural Guernica, commemorating sculptures inspired by fellow bathers (displayed in room 9). the bombing of the Basque town by right-wing nationalists Cast from assembled found objects – with picture frames in 1937, remains a potent anti-war image to this day. turned into arms, parts of a bed into feet, a broom handle into Maar photographed Picasso many times in his home and a backbone – this series is one of his most striking and playful. studio and famously documented the evolution of Guernica Also displayed in room 9 is a series of photographs by Dora (these photos are displayed in room 9). In turn, using Maar as Maar which document the evolution and production of Picasso’s his subject, Picasso created some of his most complex portraits, monumental composition Guernica. Picasso began making combining aspects of cubism, surrealism and the expressive studies for the mural within weeks of the bombing of the colours and angles of his weeping women to convey Catalan town by nationalist forces in April 1937. a distinctive psychological intensity. Animal imagery was a significant part of Picasso’s output at this ROOM 10 time. Guernica was dominated by the bull and the horse and Last decades 1961–1972 these symbolic animals reappear as symbols of male vigour in By now acclaimed as a master of modern art, Picasso works such as the enigmatic The Minotauromachia 1938, where worked with an urgent and defiant creativity. In printmaking, again Picasso casts himself as the minotaur. he collaborated with master printers Piero and Aldo Crommelynck. In sculpture, he produced new works in sheet ROOM 7 metal based on cut and folded paper models, which also World War II and its aftermath 1940–1951 seemed to hark back to his cubist metal constructions – for In 1940 the Nazis invaded Paris. During the occupation, Picasso example, The chair 1963. In his late self-portraits, Picasso cast continued to work, albeit under the watchful eye of the German himself in an array of roles: as a sword-wielding matador, an authorities. Many of Picasso’s friends fled or were driven ageing artist with his young model and, most poignantly, as from Paris, including the writer Max Jacob who was interned a wide-eyed, youthful artist, palette in hand. and eventually executed in a concentration camp. At times, Picasso’s late works drew criticism for being repetitive Capturing this atmosphere of tension and uncertainty, symbols or derivative, including those inspired by iconic paintings from of death, particularly the skull, pervade Picasso’s work. While the history of European art by artists such as Velázquez, Goya, such mementos mori have a long history in Western art as Poussin, Delacroix and Manet. Yet it was always Picasso’s reminders of our fleeting existence, the bare honesty with which enduring bond with the history of painting that brought about they are painted and sculpted by Picasso transforms them into innovation in his work, or as he put it: ‘What does it mean for poignant emblems of the death and destruction of the war. a painter to paint in the manner of So-and-So or to actually Where many of Picasso’s earlier works depict the bull in conflict imitate someone else? What’s wrong with that? On the contrary, with a horse or matador, he now shows the bull alone, cast it’s a good idea … And it’s at the very moment you make 6 simultaneously as a symbol of strength and vulnerability. In one a botch of it that you’re yourself.’ of the more whimsical appearances of this favourite motif, an old It is only more recently that the significance and innovation bicycle seat and handle bars are combined to create a dada-like of Picasso’s late works have come to be appreciated, with assemblage resembling a bull’s head (1942). In contrast, Man many art historians, critics and particularly artists acknowledging with sheep 1943, one of Picasso’s most ambitious bronze Picasso’s continuing and insatiable creativity. As his close friend, sculptures, is a powerful allegory of human fragility. It became the photographer Brassaï said: ‘He thought that if he stopped one of only two sculptures by Picasso to appear in a public working, that was death’.7 In Picasso’s words: ‘I paint just as space in France (in Vallauris, near Cannes). I breathe’.8

4 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS FOCUS WORK

Autoportrait (Self-portrait) 1906

‘Painting isn’t an aesthetic operation; it’s a form of magic designed as a mediator between this strange, hostile world and us, a way of seizing the power by giving form to our terrors as well as our desires. When I came to that realisation, I knew I had found my way.’ Pablo Picasso, 1960s9

K–6 ACTIVITIES 7–12 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION VISUAL ARTS What does Picasso offer the viewer in this self-portrait? Look closely at this portrait of the young Picasso. Notice Does Picasso’s depiction of himself reveal more than his the mask-like quality of the face. What other techniques physical appearance and personality? Explain your initial does Picasso use to give the portrait a sculptural feel? Draw response and describe the person behind the image. or paint your own self-portrait – simplify your features and Consider the intensity of the gaze and the treatment of form. consider the colours you will use to give the illusion that you In 1906, with an interest in art from other cultures, specifically are made of stone or clay. tribal art from Africa and the Pacific islands, Picasso explored HSIE the relationship between subjective and objective approaches Picasso was fascinated by sculptures and masks from to artmaking. With reference to Picasso’s influences at the Africa and the Pacific Islands. Choose one of these areas time and responding to Self-portrait discuss how Picasso has and research its people, cultures and environment. Look created a dialogue between these contradictions. in particular at the types of masks and sculptures made in Picasso painted Self-portrait the year before he painted Les traditional tribal cultures, and look for references to these Demoiselles d’Avignon 1907, a work that revolutionised artistic artforms in Picasso’s work. Create a PowerPoint showing thought and practice. Compare these artworks and develop what you found out and present it in class. a case study on their significance in modern art. ENGLISH View the Art Gallery of NSW Pacific art collection and read the Look magazine article on the web page www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/pacific-art Use this information as a starting point to create your own exhibition labels and wall text as if you are a curator.

5 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS Autoportrait (Self-portrait) 1906 oil on canvas, 65 x 54 cm Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP8 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/René-Gabriel Ojeda © Musée National Picasso, Paris

6 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS FOCUS WORK

Deux femmes courant sur la plage (La course) Two women running on the beach (The race) 1922

‘For me painting is a dramatic action in the course of which reality finds itself split apart.’ Pablo Picasso10

K–6 ACTIVITIES 7–12 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION VISUAL ARTS Are we viewing a leisurely stroll or two women Imagine the sounds of the ocean and wind as these two determined to win a race? giant-like women run along the beach. Can you see the Depicting the female form as both monumental and dynamic, horizon line? Do you think it is a hot day? Notice the Picasso has created a paradox. Discuss what this means in roundness of the women’s forms. Picasso was inspired reference to Two women running on the beach (The race) by ancient Roman sculptures of goddesses and athletes 1922. Consider the scale, use of perspective and proportions and developed this sculptural painting style. Look at of the women. Can the viewer clearly determine the body examples of ancient sculptures and sketch members of parts of each woman or has Picasso deliberately set out to your class in statue-like poses. Make your own figure confuse us? sculptures based on your drawings using clay or plasticine. In the early 1920s Picasso devised a personal approach PDHPE to neo-classicism referencing art of the ancient world. Do you like going to the beach? Debate the health benefits How does this artwork depict the style of ancient Greece of going to the beach in Australia both positive and negative. and Rome? In what way has Picasso embodied this Chart your results and survey how often you and your approach in his art practice? classmates go to the beach. Analyse what activities you Carefully consider the structure and arrangement of this do and the risks or benefits involved. work and account for what you see. How do the figures MATHS move through the composition? Discuss how they relate In this painting, Picasso has simplified the figure shapes to the landscape and the picture plane. to geometric forms. List the types of shapes you can see. Create a simplified drawing of this painting on squared paper using only geometric forms. Calculate the area these figures fill on the picture. What is the proportion of sky to land in the background? What proportion of the picture surface is taken up by the figures?

7 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS Deux femmes courant sur la plage (La course) Two women running on the beach (The race) 1922 gouache on plywood 32.5 x 41.1 cm Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP78 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/ Jean-Gilles Berizzi © Musée National Picasso, Paris

8 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS FOCUS WORK

Portrait de Dora Maar (Portrait of Dora Maar) 1937

‘I aim at deeper resemblance, more real than real, thus becoming surreal.’ Pablo Picasso, 194511

K–6 ACTIVITIES 7–12 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION VISUAL ARTS The 1930s saw Picasso explore his personal world and the Picasso is well known for his portraits of the women in his life. women of his life in his art. Look at this portrait of Dora Maar, a photographer who lived This became a constant theme in Picasso’s artmaking. Create with Picasso between 1936 and 1938. Notice how Picasso a body of work that is influenced by the people in your personal has painted her facial features. What is unusual about them? world. How can the style of your work reflect the relationship Describe Picasso’s use of colour and pattern. Where are you have with the people close to you? your eyes drawn to first? Experiment with painting or drawing your own portraits and consider showing multiple viewpoints Picasso met Dora Maar in 1935 and at this time there seemed in one image. Choose your favourite one and develop it into to be a change in his approach to depicting women. Research a finished painting filled with pattern and strong blocks of Picasso’s practice in the 1930s and account for his personal colour. Display your works in class. and social influences. Compare Picasso’s previous portraits of women with the Portrait of Dora Maar 1937 with reference HSIE to your findings. This portrait of Dora Maar was painted at the same time as Picasso was creating one of his most famous works Guernica Surrealism was a continuing influence on Picasso’s work at this 1937. Guernica was painted in response to the horrific bombing time. He embraced irrationality and automatism (acting freely of the small town of Guernica in Spain in 1937, during the without conscious thought) in his artmaking. Look carefully Spanish Civil War and has become a powerful anti-war symbol. at Portrait of Dora Maar and discuss how this painting reflects It depicts the suffering of the town’s innocent people and the surrealist elements. What is Picasso trying to depict: the fear and anguish they experienced. Find out more about this woman’s physical appearance or something more? time in Spain’s history. Find out where the painting Guernica is displayed today and look carefully at an image of it. Discuss the symbols Picasso has used and the power of art as a form of communication. ENGLISH Dora Maar documented Picasso’s process of creating Guernica in a series of photographs and experienced first hand his passionate approach to painting. Imagine you are Dora Maar, as fiery and passionate as Picasso, upset by the tragic events shown in his painting. Write a journal entry describing Picasso’s approach to the painting and the conversations you have about the civil war.

9 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS Portrait de Dora Maar (Portrait of Dora Maar) 1937 oil on canvas, 92 x 65 cm Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP158 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Jean-Gilles Berizzi © Musée National Picasso, Paris

10 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS FOCUS WORK

L’atelier de La Californie (The studio of La Californie) 1956

‘When I paint I feel that all the artists of the past are behind me.’ Pablo Picasso12

K–6 ACTIVITIES 7–12 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION VISUAL ARTS What makes this painting a Picasso? Look at this painting of Picasso’s studio and list all of the In 1955 Picasso purchased a studio called ‘La Californie’ things you can see that tell you about his life and his interests. in Cannes on the south coast of France. The studio provided Describe how the picture is divided, and the use of tone, a theme for his interiors. Analyse this work with reference pattern and colour. Picasso described his studio as an interior to its structural elements and historical influences. List the landscape and painted and sketched the studio from many objects and colours you can see and how Picasso has viewpoints. Create an artwork of your classroom as a large determined a sense of space. collaborative group painting and collage. Consider all of the objects and furniture around you and what makes your In the 1950s Picasso looked at history as subject matter classroom a unique reflection of the daily activities or style and embraced his historical influences in his practice. and interests you have as a class. Research his appropriations in the 1950s and 60s, collecting both the original work and Picasso’s interpretation. How do SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY they differ? How are they similar? Picasso’s studio ‘La Californie’ was in Cannes on the Riviera, in the south of France. Observe the types of plants Picasso Using The studio of La Californie as your initial inspiration has depicted through the window of his studio. Find out create a painting of an interior in your home. Include other more about this region of France: the styles of architecture, elements that pay homage to artists who inspire you. traditions, native plants and animals. What is this part of France famous for? Research what other artists also painted in this area and how they depicted the region. Why do you think so many artists were drawn to this area? DRAMA During his career as an artist, Picasso was invited to design costumes and stage sets. This painting has a stage-like quality. Imagine what stories could be told using this painting as a backdrop. Invent a story and write the dialogue for a play. Consider the mood of the story and how many characters there are. Act out your play and include props and costumes.

11 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS L’atelier de La Californie (The studio of La Californie) 1956 oil on canvas, 114 x 146 cm Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP211 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Jean-Gilles Berizzi © Musée National Picasso, Paris

12 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS FOCUS WORK

Les baigneurs (The bathers) 1956

‘The inspiration for a sculpture often comes from a little sign he detects in a form or in a material. And, from that, something the size of a hand can become a larger-than-life piece…’ art historian Werner Spies, 200013

K–6 ACTIVITIES 7–12 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION VISUAL ARTS Why do these figures look like bathers? Picasso loved to collect discarded objects, scraps of wood Look carefully at the movement, pose and relationships and metal, and assemble and transform them into works of between the sculptural figures. How do they work as individual art. This bronze sculpture started out as a wooden assemblage forms and also as a group? What seems to bind them which he then cast in bronze. What shapes and forms can together? Recreate this scene with people using the same you recognise here? Find the picture frames, broom handle compositional elements and compare to the original sculptures. and the feet of a bed. What have they been turned into? Notice how Picasso has etched detail and patterns into Compare these sculptures with other works by Picasso the surface of the figures. Create your own figure sculpture based on the same theme. What is he trying to capture in out of discarded objects and etch or draw details onto the these images? How has this theme evolved through his body surface to give your figure personality. Display your individual of work? Research what the Mediterranean meant to Picasso sculptures as a class group. and how these images reflect a certain sensibility. ENGLISH Picasso worked in a number of sculptural materials including This group of figures was inspired by Picasso’s many visits clay, wood and plaster, carving and then casting in bronze. to the beach with his family. Compile a glossary of words Compare approaches to sculpture through time that have (or word bank) that you associate with the beach and what used similar techniques. How does Picasso’s approach these figures could be doing there. Write an expressive poem differ? Picasso treated sculpture in the same way as painting. and use as many of your listed words as possible. Read your What does this mean and how do these sculptures reflect poems aloud in class. this point of view? MATHS Imagine you have been asked to recreate one of these figure sculptures as a large monument for a public space. Choose your favourite figure and draw it on gridded paper. Calculate and measure how big each part of the figure will need to be if the final monument is 10 metres high. Consider the scale of each part and how big the base will need to be in order to support the monument.

13 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS Les baigneurs (The bathers) 1956 bronze, various dimensions Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP352–357 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/ Thierry Le Mage © Musée National Picasso, Paris

14 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS FOCUS WORK

Musicien (Musician) 1972

‘Art should not be a trompe-l’oeil, but a trompe-l’esprit.’ Pablo Picasso14

K–6 ACTIVITIES 7–12 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION VISUAL ARTS How did Picasso change the way we see the world? In the final years of his career, Picasso developed a sketchy Research artists and styles of the 20th and 21st centuries and style of painting with rapid brush marks. Even though he was debate Picasso’s importance in redefining the meaning of art. in his 90s, this style was full of vitality and freedom as he continued to experiment and explore the qualities of paint. Within his body of work, Picasso revolutionised approaches Look at Musician 1972 and describe what you can see. Notice to painting. At times he would explore different styles at the the surface quality of the paint and the direction of Picasso’s same time, a radical move not attempted by artists before him. brush marks. How quickly was this painted? Experiment with Using the focus works and other significant works in Picasso’s paint and try painting quickly and slowly with wet or dry paint. oeuvre create a visual timeline to illustrate your point of view. Which technique is most successful or enjoyable? The musician in this painting has been merged with the MUSIC foreground and background to form a narrative on a single Even though Picasso spent most of his adult life in France picture plane. Carefully explore the composition and describe he had a deep bond with Spain, the country of his birth. your initial response. How does this approach offer more to This musician is playing the guitar, a musical instrument often the viewer? What does it tell us about the sitter and the artist? associated with Spain. Listen to examples of Spanish music and discuss what characteristics you hear. Clap the beats. Find music to go with the focus works in this education kit and consider the tempo and mood of the music. HSIE Picasso’s Spanish roots often came through in the subject matter of his works of art. Bullfighting in particular was a recurring theme. Research the history and ritual of bull- fighting – the associated clothing, character and spectacle of the event. Debate in class the pros and cons of this tradition and the changes that have occurred over time in light of animal welfare concerns.

15 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS Musicien (Musician) 1972 oil on canvas, 194.5 x 129.5 cm Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP229 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Jean-Gilles Berizzi © Musée National Picasso, Paris

16 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS NOTES Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris 12 November 2011 – 25 March 2012 1. Anne Baldassari (ed), Picasso: masterpieces from the Musée National Art Gallery of New South Wales Picasso, Paris, Flammarion, Paris 2011, p 23. Original source: Françoise Gilot Education Kit & Carlton Lake, Life with Picasso (1964), Virago, London 1997, p 118 © 2011 Art Gallery of New South Wales

2. Baldassari Paris 2011, p 249 Produced by the Public Programs Department 3. Elizabeth Cowling, Picasso: style and meaning, Phaidon, London 2002, Art Gallery of New South Wales Art Gallery road, The Domain, Sydney 2000 Australia p 162 [email protected] 4. Cowling 2002, p 176 www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/education

5. Cowling 2002, p 202 The education kit has been coordinated and created by Victoria Collings, senior coordinator of education and Leeanne Carr, coordinator of secondary 6. Dore Ashton (ed), Picasso on art: a selection of views, Da Capo Press, education programs. Text by Josephine Touma, acting senior coordinator New York 1972, p 53 of public programs. 7. Marilyn McCully, A Picasso anthology: documents, criticism, reminiscences, Cover caption: Portrait de Dora Maar (Portrait of Dora Maar) 1937 Princeton University Press, Princeton 1981, p 277 oil on canvas, 92 x 65 cm 8. Ashton 1972, p 49 Pablo Picasso Bequest, 1979, MP158 © Succession Picasso, 2011/Licensed by Viscopy, 2011 9. Baldassari 2011, p 250. Original source: Gilot & Lake 1997, p 226 © Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux/Jean-Gilles Berizzi © Musée National Picasso, Paris 10. Baldassari 2011, p 77. Original source: Robert Desnos, Écrits sur les peintres, Paris, 1984 Further reading Ashton, Dore (ed). Picasso on art: a selection of views, 11. Baldassari 2011, p 147. Original source: André Warnod, Da Capo Press, New York 1972 ‘En peinture, tout n’est que signe,’ Arts, 29 June 1945 Cowling, Elizabeth. Picasso: style and meaning, Phaidon, 12. Susan Grace Galassi, Picasso’s variations on the masters, London and New York 2002 Harry N Abrams Inc, New York 1996, p 19 Cowling, Elizabeth, Cox, Neil et al. Picasso: challenging the past, exhibition catalogue, , London 2009 13. Baldassari 2011, p 257. Original source: Werner Spies, Picasso sculpteur, Paris 2000, p 13 Cox, Neil. The Picasso book, Tate Publishing, London 2010 Gilot, Françoise and Lake, Carlton. Life with Picasso (1964), 14. Baldassari 2011, p 113. Original source: Robert Desnos, Virago, London 1997 Écrits sur les peintres, Paris, 1984 McCully, Marilyn (ed). A Picasso anthology: documents, criticism, reminiscences, Princeton University Press, New Jersey 1981 Maloon, Terence et al. Picasso: the last decades, exhibition catalogue, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2003 Raeburn, Michael (ed). Picasso’s Picassos: an exhibition from the Musée Picasso, Paris, exhibition catalogue, Hayward Gallery, London 1981 Stein, Gertrude. Picasso, Dover Publications, New York 1984 (first published 1938)

Exhibition book A richly illustrated 296-page book is available from the Gallery Shop for $45.

17 Art Gallery of New South Wales / EDUCATION KIT / PICASSO: MASTERPIECES FROM THE MUSÉE NATIONAL PICASSO, PARIS